For those of you who don't know, thehippo8 is actually a Kiwi. Along with the usual trappings of an idyllic life in a Pacific Island it is currently summer. We have a saying - "Island time" - which pretty much means "don't fret, we'll get there" ... but can also be translated as "you can push me as much as you like but you're not going to get me to go any quicker and you're going to end up with a sore hand"!! So laziness, sunshine, imbibing and general frolicking have all had their own way in delaying this issue by a whole two days! Sure, the fact that the rest of the team have been hit by a severe case of New-Year-itis has nothing to do with it! But, here we are - minus an interview and with a shortened Foundry section - and we ready to entertain you!

Freestyle has a Mafia update and a new column - Dear Aunt Squishy ... now you can really get that problem off your chest! Leeharsneaks in from Swasiland to give us an update in clans (which seems strangely appropriate). Interestingly enough, numerology has it that 2013 is the year of love - not personal - but for family, society and clans ... time to get your clan on! My hat goes off to Dukasaur who has pulled out a veritable smorgasbord of reading pleasure for you in all things related to Tournaments. I don't want to jump the gun but we have some Breaking News - check it out! koontz1973 does a retrospective and it's time for the 2013 Map Awards ... have your say (one way or the other) and help dole out both GA medals and premium. Finally, I bring you a lesson from Hardattack on how to pay Baltic Crusades (yes, it actually works), team up with Macbone to bring a quick update on SoC (often promised until now not delivered) and Dukasaur talks about ... well read it, it's a proud moment! So, all-in-all this is as action-a-packed issue as we ever had. And yes, we will bring you that CC interview with Cairnswk next issue!

And thus we enter 2013 proper. Now, assuming that the birthdate of CC is 3 January 2006 (yes - that's exactly 7 years ago ... spooky), we get this (according to this website:

To learn forecast for 2013 is for you, you need to calculate your destiny number. For CC (given the date of birth 03.01.2006, the calculation is 0+3+0+1+2+0+0+6= 12 = 1+2 = 3) your magic number is 3, which leads us to:

Feel that the rapid flow of life does not make it. But if you show perseverance, patience and ingenuity, you can slowly but surely fulfill all obligations. For number 3 – the year of change, but only those that have been planned in advance.

Well, that's telling us isn't it! Best wishes to you all and enjoy the fruits of our labouring fingers.

While safariguy5 takes a well-earned break I've snuck in here to do another Scum insider. Love that mafia! As you can see in this issue, we could do with a little bit of help here. I'm beginning to feel like a circus performer again Freestyle is a great place to have your one off creative talents given a whirl (assuming they are CC related of course). Speaking of which, welcome one and all to Aunt Squishy. PM SguishyQ or me with any questions you need to get off your chest (discretion almost assured).

Want to get into the Mafia scene, but don't know how to play or even what it is? Consult these threads: Mafia Information, Mafia and You, and Rules and Terms of Mafia.Too much work? Too lazy to read through everything? No worries, you can always jump right into a game and ask for other players or the game runner to help guide you.

What is "Mafia"?Mafia, for those of you that don't know, is a game that generally takes place in a town, where the townspeople have to determine who the mafia (or "scum") is and lynch them via a majority vote during the day and the mafia try to kill everyone at night and bluff their way out of getting killed by the town.

Mafia NewsWith the recent addition of pancakemix to the mod team to support the Mafia forum, the possibility of mafia awards has once again be brought up here. Hopefully, we'll be able to have some sort of fun recognition thread or contest to celebrate another year of mafia fun.

Mafia CalloutsCalling all players interested! Some mafia games need some filling:

Advanced Roles and Strategy by thehippo8Don't get double-crossed by the ...

Traitor

What is It?Although Mafia aligned, the Traitor cannot talk to the rest of the faction and sits apart. They might know who one or more of the other scum are, then again they may be in the dark altogether. Their role is to hinder town from performing its tasks. They might appear to be town if investigated by cops. They might be unkillable by the rest of the scum faction. They might have other powers. Finally, they might die with the rest of scum even if they would otherwise have been alive. There can be interesting times if the traitor can be killed and the game is at LyLo.

ExampleMafia have wrongly decided that someone is town but they are actually mafia. It is Lylo and they think they will win. They kil the traitor and lose!

How to Play this RoleIf the scum know that there is a Traitor in the game, it should not be difficult for the Traitor to distinguish themselves to the scum. Just do something outrageously scummy or eye-catching for them.

Because the Traitor cannot perform the Night-kill and may lose if the main scum die, the "bad Townie" strategy may be a good one to consider. Try fakeclaiming an incriminating result on some random Townie in order to score a free mislynch.

My girlfriend doesn't like how much time I spend playing Conquer Club. What should I do?

Dear Future Conqueror,

Oh ducky, Aunt squishy gets this question all the time from her little CC munchkins. If your significant other is resentful of how much time you spend defending North America from European invaders, than you need to use my foolproof strategy. Invest in a DVR and record something that your honey enjoys that you could care less about. Say Yes to the Dress is an excellent choice as it is on 28 hours a day. Simply go online while your sweetheart gapes at pretty frilly things. You will both get your "me" time and your relationship will be stronger for it.

xoxo, Aunt squishy

It's still Holiday Season (Indeed I'm currently bringing you this section from vacation in the mountainous surrounds of M_ab_ne - GA Medal for whoever can guess correctly where that is Nah, just kidding, I got no authority for that :p), so bare bones this issue in clans, but look to feature articles galore in the coming weeks!

If you have any highlights on 2012 for your clan, or thoughts for upcoming goals in 2012, please do share them with us and the rest of the CC community!

Kort have almost qualified for the final already with the looks of another hallmark come-from-behind victory (that has occurred often of late!) against ID -although things do remain all-square at present; while Empire are only 6 wins (needed from the second set against Foed) away from making it their second consecutive championship match appearance!

[CL4] Phase 4 - Div 1[Semi Finals]19vs.17The Grand Finale for Season 4 of the Clan League is finally about to bring down the curtain, as consecutive finalists AoC remain only 2 wins away from lifting the title. That trophy seems very far away however, as Kort seems to hold enough of a lead in the remaining games to somehow squeeze out the title in the dying seconds!

Newcomers Cup 3vs.TNC & Fallen are set to square off within the month for the NC Cup title!

Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments!

One thing you will find in this issue is generalhead's Showcase of Tournament Directors. (Simultaneously, there is a new omnibus list of List of Moderators and Their Responsibilities over in the main forum, but what generalhead has done goes beyond that.) A small, simple, and yet very effective questionnaire was sent out to all the TDs, and the answers tell you a fair bit about what who the TDs are and what they do. At least a couple of them mentioned things that were news to me, so I definitely suggest you check it out.

CC's most prolific and second-most prolific TOs, Merch313 and HA respectively, both created some late-breaking news, and I've added a prediction about CC's third-most prolific TO as well. Have a look at my Late-breaking News article!

A major chapter in CC tournament history has closed, as the FIRST season of the TPA has finally ended. I will let DaveH tell you all about it in his TPA Wrap, but for now let me say that a certain former War Games reporter is the ultimate winner! Congratulations to that certain former War Games reporter! Although he's inactive on CC at the moment, I'm sure he'll be back one day.

WorldCup4James brings you Join This? Or Not! which as you know is the longest-running series in the whole CC Dispatch! It will give you some interesting ideas of new tournaments to join. And while we're on the subject of tournaments to join, let me abuse my personal privilege here and remind you about my Favourite Way for the World to End! tournament. If you haven't looked at it yet, please do, and if you've already signed up, then thank you, and now grab a friend and tell them about it!

As Tournament Directors, we each have a limited amount of time that we can provide to Directing based on personal lives, running tournaments, and other responsibilities that we have. Each Director has taken on tasks that they know they can commit to without over-burdening themselves. In order to help you know who to contact with a specific question or concern, I've compiled this list of duties that each Director is responsible for.

How did you come to Volunteer as a TD?I wanted to help out in a section that I was heavily involved in at the time.

How long have you been a volunteer?March 2008

Was volunteering as a TD what you expected and did you expect to be doing it this long?I never really expected to become Team Leader or spend time helping out other departments, but the actual TD role was mostly expected.

How did you come to choose you avatar?By being a member of Generation One: The Clan

How did you come to Volunteer as a TD? - I was running many tournaments at the time, and it was just something I was interested in doing, to help out. I was spending quite a lot of time on the site at that time, so it made sense to me. Night Strike is in my clan, so I volunteered to him. Took quite a long time before I was accepted, and given a role.

How long have you been a volunteer? - About 16 months now, I believe.

Was volunteering as a TD what you expected and did you expect to be doing it this long? - Yes, I'd say it was what I expected. I started out working with new tournaments, inputting them into the database, and awarding privileges when they filled. I have since become the mod responsible for handing out medals once tournaments have been completed. Steelhorse had been handling that, so I didn't expect to move into that role, but I enjoy it. As far as how long I'd be doing this, I really didn't have any expectations, so I'm just happy I'm still able to help out.

Can you give me a favorite quote about volunteering as a TD? - It's not really a quote, but after I became a mod, I found out that Lindax had serious concerns about making me a TD. I'm happy to say that I've exceeded all his expectations.

How did you come to choose you avatar? - I rotate between Detroit and Michigan sports. Currently, I'm going with the helmet worn by the Michigan Wolverines. I've also used the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Lions, and Detroit Tigers. I'm from Detroit, and love Detroit sports.

Can you tell us something about yourself that we don't know? - My right knee has been hurting me for over a week, at times somewhat seriously so, and I'm slightly concerned that I might have ligament damage.

How did you come to Volunteer as a TD? Since I was a TO and heard there was going to be openings for TD I decided to put in my application for the position. And low and behold I was picked

How long have you been a volunteer? Beginning of 2012 I believe.

Was volunteering as a TD what you expected and did you expect to be doing it this long? Yeah its been great. Nice to see and learn how all this works behind the scenes. Some jobs ive done is more work then I thought.

How did you come to choose you avatar? Cuz im a sexy cow

Can you tell us something about yourself that we don't know? Own more then 400 pair of sneakers

I am writing an article for the CC Newsletter showcasing the Tournament Directors and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions for the article? Yes, of course.

How did you come to Volunteer as a TD? Well, before they had open callouts, I had told Night Strike (the Tournament Department Head) that I was willing to be a Tournament Director. Then, they had callouts for a Clan Director. It seemed to me that the TDs weren't needing anyone, so I went ahead and applied for that, because I wanted to be able to help out. At the same time, I was approached to see if I wanted to be a Suggestions mod, because I was active there. What ended up happening was a few PMs sent between myself, Night Strike, Bruceswar (head CD), clapper011 (head of suggs at the time), and Andydufresne. We came to the decision to have me help with tournaments because that's what I liked the most.

How long have you been a volunteer? It will be a year in a few weeks.

Was volunteering as a TD what you expected and did you expect to be doing it this long? It wasn't exactly what I expected. For the tournament directors, there is a lot of behind the scenes work; putting things into the database, checking tournaments, fielding questions and complaints, issuing medals, etc. I thought that we would get a chance to be involved in more site changes. However, there weren't many changes to get involved in. Hopefully that's changing in the future.

Can you give me a favorite quote about volunteering as a TD? Hmmm. Nothing comes to mind right now.

How did you come to choose you avatar? Well, at the time I chose it, I was really into trying to find a family crest for myself. I went searching on the internet and found this.

Can you tell us something about yourself that we don't know? I have a congenital heart defect.

Thank you for your time. I know that you are all busy; with your personal lives, volunteering here, playing games here, and doing what ever else you have going on so I do appreciate. GH Thanks and you're welcome.

How did you come to Volunteer as a TD? After running tournaments for almost 2 years, I saw the call out for TD volunteers and I thought it would be a great experience plus a way to give back to the community.

How long have you been a volunteer? About 10-11 months now I believe

Was volunteering as a TD what you expected and did you expect to be doing it this long? For the most part it was what I expected there is always a few surprises.lol I didn't really have a time set in mind for how long I would volunteer, I just figured till they kicked me out or till I was no longer playing CC.

Can you give me a favorite quote about volunteering as a TD? I have so many favorites via pm,but can't quote them to protect the innocent...or not so innocent.

How did you come to choose you avatar? One of my clan mates made it for me!!

Can you tell us something about yourself that we don't know? At night I am batman....oh crap now you know my secret identity..where is that amnesia pill??

Just in the last few days we have had some massive news in the Tournaments world.

Big News #1: HA returns!

First, HighlanderAttack has returned to tournament organising. On Friday, December 21st, HA posted HA is sorry is the first new HA tournament launch in many moons. It filled quickly. A second, HA's another tourney followed. This morning, January 2nd, HA posted four new entries in his Don't Blink series. All of them filled before the end of the day.

A year ago it seemed unthinkable that anyone would ever pass HA in the Tournament Organisers Hall of Fame. Then, HA began suffering from burnout. He made fewer tournaments, updated them less frequently, and finally committed a sin that none of us would have thought possible: he actually abandoned some. Even his record-breaking 200th was almost declared abandoned, and only saved because the TDs bent the rules in deference to HA's prestige.

In late November, the thing that once had seemed unthinkable came to pass: You will recall in Issue 84 of the Dispatch, I reported to you on the historic moment when Merch313 passed HA on the TO's list.

Now, a suddenly rejuvenated HA suddenly has re-appeared on the scene. Is this a permanent return, or is it just a false beam of hope, like the re-ignition of the core that occurs just before a red giant star collapses into a white dwarf?

Big News #2: 313's DE Series Done!

Today, January 2nd, the many hundreds and hundreds of players who have participated in Merch313's Double-Elimination series got a PM with the historic words,

merch313 wrote:... to players who play in my DE series. Just wanted first to thank all of you for playing in my tourneys and to let you all know that I just put up the last map. We have gone through all CC, minus Easter, St Patricks Day, and the 2 world cup maps.

I will still be putting up those closed maps, new betas and other special event DE tourneys.

I mainly wanted to just thank you all for participating and helping me get through all the CC maps.

Many Tournament Organisers have set out to create a series covering all of CC's maps. So far only Merch313 has hit that goal, with his DE series. (All regular maps, anyway, and I have no doubt that he will manage to get those last few special-event maps eventually.) Greenoaks is about 80% of the way, with his KISS series, and I very much believe that he too will eventually reach his goal. Even so, Merch will have the special distinction of having done it first.

Item #3: Greenoaks Closes In!

This one I can't really call "News" because it hasn't happened yet, but my prediction is that within a short period of time, greenoaks will pass HA in the Tournament Organisers Hall of Fame and take the Number 2 spot. Despite HA's dramatic return, I think it will take some time for his new tournaments to gain momentum. Meanwhile, greenoaks has 38 currently-ongoing tournaments, and many of them are in or close to their final round.

Here is how the top of the list looks right now:merch313 283HighlanderAttack 260greenoaks 257

Almost certainly, greenoaks will soon rise to second place. But what will happen after that? Will HA's renaissance bring him back to the top? Will greenoaks continue his steady climb? Will merch start to move slower now that he doesn't have the burning priority of continuing the DE series? What will the list look like in another year? I can't say, but I will be watching every step of the way!

In this code there are lots of variables such as "gn=" and only a few are set to a value. It looks quite horrendous, but if you compare it with the Game Finder screen, you will see that it starts to make sense.

Click image to enlarge.

The "&" is to link each of the variables together. Let's define what these variables are:

Perhaps "so" is for a variable that is yet to be specified? Does anyone know?

(Please note that the above letters in red are my interpretation of their derivation!)Just a quick note on the Tournament Title, which codes "ContinentConquer: World Tour [TPA2]" as ContinentConquer%3A+World+Tour+%5BTPA2%5D. The %3A represents the colon; + represents a space and %5B and %5D represent "[" and "]". If "[" and/or "]" were used instead then they interfere with the coding which results in an error message. This is the reason that using Game Finder followed by page forward and page back and getting the resulting code from the thread address does not work if either of these characters is in the title.

(These "tips" are ones that I have tried to make it a bit easier in managing my own tournaments. I am sure there are different and better methods than these, so please let me know. Any queries on the above I'll be glad to respond to! Please note that I use Excel 2003, so there may be variation in the menu instructions if you have other versions of Excel)

TPA 1: State of PlayThe Open Centum Invitational [TPA] is finished, which means that TPA Season 1 is also finished!From the 100 participants in HA's tournament playing 100 games, the final positions went to TrushAAX in first place with 64 wins with Gromph 62; Babagonosh 61; Maasman 57; Neva 57; Uckuki 56; Bones2484 56; Mizzou3181 55 and Chiefsfan4ever 55 making it through to the finals.After 100 games it was a very close run thing!Congratulations to everyone who managed to stay the course!

I don't know if there are prizes to be saved because some of the top players have now left CC, or if they get distributed down to the next eligible player!

This tournament had just a couple less than 1,000 players! I wonder if that will ever be matched again?TPA 1 StandingsTPA Season 2: State of Play

Perchorin's If You Don't Like the Weather tournament has finished, with dowian2, Denise and mkcummins coming first. The scoreboard has been updated and the leaders are: dowian2 3463, barterer2002 3358, tripitaka 2666, uckuki 2567 and arno30 2362.

TPA 2 Standings

TPA Season 3

The tournaments open for entering are:26-Nov Premier peanutman - Peanut's 3X Double Elimination - DoublesPeanut's second open tournament is his Major; Seven Up II which has 7 players in a league type tournament - as started by flexmaster. Quads, triples, doubles and a single all in one tournament!A tournament with a Christmas theme will hope to start on the 13th day of Christmas is one of mine: 07-Jan Premier - DaveH - The 13 Days of Christmas Triples teams playing triples, doubles and singles.

With MMXIII underway and the Conquer Club New Year in sight, the Tournaments page is at full strength. As has been the case for many weeks now, there's no shortage of exciting and innovative competitions, so here's a glance at some of the best in search of players like you.

The 25th may be long gone now, but it's just the first day in the twelve-day count toward January 6 (the more-celebrated day of Epiphany in Eastern Christianity). In this tournament hosted by DaveH, teams of three take part in 45 games across thirteen maps, each representing one of the days of Christmas. But not all games are Triples--singles and doubles as well as triples games are all featured. Popular maps such as Treasures of Galapagos, Poker Club, and Arms Race! are all included in this festive competition.

In celebration of organising 200 tournaments, a feat only few hold, the legendary Tournament Director mcshanester29 welcomes 128 players to his all-inclusive tournament, complete with two years' worth of premium prizes. From Assassin to Teams to Standard games, players pick up points for wins across six rounds. Games will be played on Random as well as BETA maps. Two unique General Achievement Medals are up for grabs, and just playing gives you the chance to be randomly drawn to win three months of premium membership! Not only will cross-map and cross-setting skills be instrumental, but effective teamwork with random opponents will also be needed to dominate. Don't miss out--the tournament is already over half-full.

In ballenus' elite Doubles tournament for teams of combined score greater than 4000, 32 teams take to war across three phases of group play. Across numerous months, this Doubles marathon competition will grant 65 games for teams that reach the finals. Featured maps include Classic, Berlin 1961, 8 Thoughts, and many more. There's still room for around ten pairs who want the chance to turn the early months of 2013 into success.

Experience the westward exploration, discovery, and settlement of the Americas in benga's Doubles tournament. Pairs sign up representing their choice European power--from Portugal to Holland to France--and sail off, battling across three distinct stages! Only one team can hold the wealth and glory and truly succeed in the colonization! There's still some room left so join the bold and historic journey today!

It has been a bumper year in the foundry this year. Lots of things went on, from new maps (21 new ones this year), the loss of map makers, new map makers, saying goodbye to foundry staff and hello to others. New xml has been allowed so new ways to play the game. We even went through the very first conquer club strike by Team CC.

ISN2 and Flapcake also made their first maps, but they entered service just before the new year.

3 leave & 2 new. Blue boys that is.MarshalNey

During October 2011, MarshalNey decided to take a break from his blue duties due real life reasons. Unfortunately, after talking with him few days ago, I have to say that he has decided to resign definitively from his position as Cartography Assistant. This is certainly a great loss for the foundry considering that MarshalNey has been one of the best gameplay commentators and helpers we have ever had the pleasure to work with.

OliverFA

On the same route, we have to say goodbye to OliverFA, after having contribute for the last 7 months to check the XML code of our maps, he has also decided to step down and take a definitive break from his current duties. OliverFA has been always really kind and helpful and even if his presence on the public side has always been a bit "silent", he has made a great contribution behind the scenes doing all the hard groundwork to create a new and updated xml guide/tutorial that we will release very soon.

Industrial Helix

thenobodies80 wrote:If I go back with the memory to 2009, I clearly remember when I became a CA and one of the first maps I followed at that time was the 13 Colonies. I remember a kind guy who was going to push his first map through the foundry process. I remember the funny pms exchange to write a working xml....but I'm digressing with the flow of my memories and probably most of you, right now, are wondering about what the hell I'm talking about.I'm sorry for this, but in my mind is again very clear the moment in which we discussed about having him in the Team, his first post in blue. It seems yesterday, but it was 2 years ago. But as said this is a very personal thing.Instead, what everyone here certainly know is that Helix has helped and served the CC Mapmaking community always in the best way possible, spending hours and hours in front of a screen, mostly to put the new comers and their map drafts on the right track.In these two years the only thing that has kept him away from this site has been a serious health problem and that's why I know that if now ha has taken the decision to resign, it's a because he has good reason.I'm really proud to had him in the Blue Team like CA and like Foreman, and the fact he is resigning it's another sign of the big respect he has for the CA role and for the Mapmaking Community.

The new kids on the blocknolefan5311He will help iancanton (ur great gameplay guru) to analyze and balance in the best way possible the gameplay of maps. For now, he will be a "simple" Foundry Assistant, but we hope to spread some blue on his username soon! Turned blue on 16th June.koontz1973I'm happy to announce that koontz1973 has kindly accepted to fill the empty space left by Industrial Helix. Like nolefan5311, also koontz1973 will contribute as Foundry Assistant for now, in future we will see!Turned blue on 2nd November.

One other came on board but left just before he got his blue shoes. natty dread come onto the team just after OliverFA left to help with the checking of the xml.

Bye to twoOver the last couple of years, two map makers became notorious for not only producing map after map, but also their out spoken views on other maps. While natty dread left quietly, he left behind a legacy of maps that are some of the most liked but also a few maps languishing in the bin. DiM on the other hand, not only left behind a lot of projects unfinished, he flamed out in spectacular style. Threatening to sue the site and trying to remove his maps from play. But no matter, these two are missed with their views. What ever you guys are doing, good luck.

New North America.Before natty dread left us, one of his last projects was to give us a revamped North America map.

Click image to enlarge.

Supersized problems.In 2011, the foundry gift of supersize maps became a reality. This was a godsend from above as some maps that needed to be made could now be made in all their glory. But 8 months later in April, all this came to a stop. lackattack made a point that some maps are now too large for his liking. After discussions between himself, foundry blue boys and some map makers, it was decided that this would be allowed to continue but only after some more reviews. Well luckily in December, they came back, albeit with slightly smaller sizes.

2 XML updatesBonus CollectionsThe bonus collections is an update that give to us more flexibility with bonuses. It doesn't allow many new gameplay elements but it makes possible to shorten the code, and those of you who are more experienced with the developement of big maps know well how much can be a pain to code everything without having a long and big file. In addition, this update will solve an issue we had to face twice in past (Research&Conquer and War of Wizards), infact the game engine can't handle too big xml files. Conditional BordersThis update allows more dynamic control of borders and it opens up Conquer Club to a whole new level of strategy!Now you are able to use dynamic boders on your map, so a region A borders with a Region B only if the player holds "something"

1 foundry stikeBack in July, the majority of the map makers posted new drafts of their maps. The only thing was, this is what the drafts looked like.

Click image to enlarge.

This was in response to a request by thenobodies80 to try and get some support for the foundry by the webmaster. In a letter to lackattack, thenobodies said this:

Today, I've decided to go in the opposite way and think as mapmaker and not be the foreman....help the mapmakers and then the site.For this reason I'm saying to you that me and a "large" (considering how much people visit the foundry) group of mapmaker have decided to stop produce maps and updates untill you will show some love for us.Let me state clear that I'm not a backstabber, I'm not betraying you or the site....on the opposite I would pay to have the foreman role as "full time job", but I've decided with some others to put you in a corner and " force" you to take care of us.This is not like say: "I'm a crying baby, gimme some updates or I won't draw the maps anymore!"It's more: "You're losing your mapmakers, this would be CC without us!"

In the end, all was well. nobodies got his wish. Love in the form of the 2 xml updates where produced and other bits which I am not allowed to divulge to you yet.

Medals. This little thing we all like hit two milestones this year. cairnswk became the very first player to hit the big 30 limit and has even passed it now by 2 or 3. lostatlimbo with his Portland map became the 100th recipient of a map medal.

Lastly, the team.These guys do sterling work so be patient with them. Group Leader: thenobodies80: Foundry Foreman, Final forge, xml, special projects, super size applications, medals, competitions.Group Members

The Foundry Graphics Team members are the final arbiters of map quality, and will ultimately judge whether or not a map meets the Conquer Club standard.

Welcome to the second annual map awards. Here is a look back to the 2012 winners and maps. 2012 awards. - Winners.

A very productive year in the foundry. 20 maps have been produced and played on. With the two held over from lasts years comptition, we have 22 maps to judge this year.

Now it is time to pay tribute to the map makers for all their hard work and decide who is the best of the best.

Here are the categories in which you can vote. You can vote in all categories or none at all.

How you vote is so simple, a baby can do it. Click on any of the wood banners and you will be whisked away to a magical site to post your answers.

Best map made for 4 players or less.

Which has the best one versus one play?

Maps made for 8 players. More the merrier for these bad boys.

Something different for those of you that play doubles, triples or even quads.

The super model of maps.

Which map has the best gameplay.

The map a two year old can play on.

The most original idea in graphics or gameplay.

New maps made by new map makers. But who has made the best.

Which map makes the others shrink in fear.

For every map that wins in each of the categories, a shiny newGeneral Achievement medalwill be awarded to the map maker. But that is not all,six months premiumwill be given to the map maker that wins theBest of 2012category. 2ndand3rdplaces will also get additional3 months of premium.

Any map that comes out later will be moved over to next years awards. Kingdom of Denmark and Istanbul are in from last year. The map makers are also entered into the best new map maker section. Voting lasts until the 14th January.Prizes are given by the entertainment team.

Happy gaming everyone, whatever map takes your fancy.

Welcome one and all to another helping of Strategy.

This is the stuff that's important, so listen up!!

This issue Hardattack shares his wisdom on Baltic Crusades - do what he says, it works and it turns this map into fun with a capital F! For those of you looking for an easy GA medal, please get acquanted with the maps in this Collected Wisdom series and go ahead and send your entries into the Official Guides - they need to be done and you get something out of it too. Macbone and his team will hopefully be bringing me regular updates from the trials, tribulations, hilarity and dispair that makes up the training ground in the Society of Cooks. This is just a teaser, but if any of you want to get involved then feel free to PM me your thoughts too! Speaking of getting involved, Dukasaur also takes this opportunity to update on the first graduates from SoC Team Training - well done all And no doubt you will be shortly joined by many more!

Well, seems there is no shortage of talented and selfless folk who are willing to share their experience and knowledge with others on this fair site. Be upstanding CC for the erudite words of Hardattack who was good enough to answer my questions (26 December 2012) and smash me in a very quick 1 minute game on this map!

Click image to enlarge.

1.What captured your interest in Baltic Crusades?

Well, I was looking for a 2vs2 team game 6 days ago or so, a tough opposition and a good team to fight against. Found 5-6 games, sent game IDs to my friend, asking him to pick one of them. Luckily (for me) one of those games was Baltic Crusades ... a doubles game. My friend picked that one, we sat in the game as team 2. Together with my partner, we made a study of the map. It didn’t take us a lot of time to get the idea how map worked. I liked it. I started a speed game, 1v1, then the fun/enjoyment I got from that game grew like avalanche.

2.Is there anything special about this map to you (historically, culturally, personally)?

Well, simply put, no. I don’t have anything personal/cultural to link me with the back side of the map. But maybe I can clarify it that I am kind of liking the history to a degree. It has been reason why I liked Age of Empires PC game more and more than Need for Speed. I think my point is clear. Simply put, I smell history in Baltic Crusades.

3. I see you like to play 1v1 games - is there a reason for that?

Actually, I have been playing 1v1 games for 2 days now. Through the last 18 months, maybe 2 years, it has been very rare for me to play 1v1 games (check my game history). Well, I thought to myself, many people are busy with Xmas, holidaying, and generally enjoying their free time. So, I figured I have to play some fast games to have fun. Other than that, from this point on, I’d be happy to play 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 on this map – particularly whenever I find my team comes back around after their Christmas holidays. Remember, I only started playing this map just 4-5 days before now

4. What would be your ideal drop for this map (if auto) or where do you like to deploy troops (if manual)?

Well, castles are key IMO. I am happy with automatic deploys, not only for this nice new map, but mostly I like auto-deployment for any map/game. If it is manual deployment we are playing, then I’d say a distribution of units next to castles to grab as many castles as possible in the first turn, or in first 2 turns, would give a tremendous income in no time to the player - so good advantage I believe.

5. Are there any traps in this map?

Well, hanseatic cities and towns can be reached via a single point, that is owner territories, and most times the first time players miss this point. Newbs drop/deploy their units in towns/cities assuming they can make further attacks over surrounding territories from towns/cities. However, towns/cities can ONLY attack owner territories. Since I am using BOB/clickable maps, it is not tough for me to see the connections and grasp this point. But for those who don’t use those tools, it’s a bit tough to see this point - particularly in their first time play. But it shouldn’t take very long them to get this. So in their second play they pretty well are aware of how it works. Finally, I wouldn’t call this a trap, as such, but rather a little sweet trick, this is, even adding more fun and aspect to the map. In short, it adds more fun in game play. Finally, to me, there are no traps at all.

6. Are there any tricks that work well on this map?

Not much, if it is a trick to be counted then yes, let’s say it is castles to be targeted in first couple of rounds to benefit from auto-deploys. This replicates historical fact in the feudal and new world as well.

7. Is this map better sunny or fog?

Well, I believe this map offers fun in both settings. My game pattern in last two days, playing it sunny is mostly because of being busy and looking for fast gaming. Otherwise, and once again, fog in this map will be great as well. I am playing 2vs2 game in this map, a casual one, it is foggy and I’m still enjoying it a lot.

8. Have you played any team maps on this map? If so, was that more or less complex?

As I have said, I have an active 2vs2 game, fog, no spoils, chained. But 1vs1 is always simpler, not for this map only but valid through all maps we have got. It will be interesting to play team games when my team get back from holidays.

9. Do you see this as primarily a regions map or an objective style map?

This map is very much a conquest type of map in my opinion.

10. Any final thoughts?

Looking back, despite having just a short but intensive experience with this map, one possible reason why I started such a huge affinity on that map, I guess, is due to it’s being/sitting at the middle of feudal(epic) war map, new world map, and dawn of ages map. All of those 3 maps have been amongst the maps I loved the most in my whole 4 years of appearance on this site. Baltic crusades map, I can perfectly well say, is that it is something just like a very best composition of all these above 3 mentioned maps all at once. At least, that is what I see so far. I believe pretty soon, it will be among one of most frequently played maps on this site.

I believe this map is ideally suited for a maximum of 6 players. I don’t think this map is a very good choice for 7-8 players gaming including 4vs4 game play. It is due to the size, hence number of territories/player to start makes this map very fine suit for maximum 6 player games IMO. On the other hand, maps do not necessarily need to have affinity with every game play is my strong opinion. We have got lots of maps, well, an example, huge maps are not good to play 1vs1 IMO. So, once again, I don’t see this to be a problem.

Thanks Hardattack, you have done the hard yards for the rest of us. Now we can all enjoy this map. I hope you are right that it will become a favourite. At least now that I understand it I will be playing it myself!

Society of Cooks Training Grounds is the place to go to learn strategy. Hopefully from this point on we will keep you up to date with developments, innovations, state of the art and other happenings in SoC insofar as that relates to strategy.

He received an entrance into another internal tournament, our Senior Class Shootout, which is going on right now (sadly, I've already been eliminated (= ).

We're always on the lookout for new teachers for either our Escalating Terminator/Standard classes or our team teaching classes. For Escalating teachers, interested players can contact Dhallmeyer or Iron Butterfly, and for team teaching, they can PM me and Commander9.

In the meantime, while you all of you sit back basking in the glow of your Cook hats, let me remind you of the Commandments. Do you follow them, do they work, do you have some more, some amendments, a brain seizure, what? Hmmmm?

Commander9 wrote:You are few and far and between and you've finally reached the end of the road for SoC Academy Training. You are the very first batch (I might say not a bad one too ) to graduate our team training! No doubt, it may have been a long and hard journey to this point, with some hurdles in between, but you have done it, so shake your hand, give yourself a high five and put on a cook hat - you've made it!

ElricTheGreat wrote:Congrats on being in our 1st groups of students to take the Team Training and come out the other end.

Also thanks for helping the new Team Teachers iron out a new training regime .. everyone will benefit from the hard work done by you and the teachers!

What a thrill!

Congratulations are in order to:asbksCharleDoc_BrownDukasaurFewnixhewhoisdumODWOStanneke

Of course I had already known that I was scheduled to graduate soon, but what I had not known is that we would be the first batch. Of course I decided that this historic moment required a closer look.

I asked a few questions:

Dukasaur wrote:1. When did team training start? I can see a mention as far back as April of 2011. Wow, has it really been that long?

Commander9 wrote:1. I personally wasn't there since the very beginning, but I think around May of 2011. The 1st posts that I can find for team games actually date back to 2009 March 1st (Game 4336167 with wacicha and Industrial Helix)

macbone wrote:Team training has existed in several different forms back since at least 2009, as Commander9 pointed out. Wacicha instituted some changes in the teaching curriculum in 2010, and mpjh tasked ptlowe with further adjustments in 2011.

Dukasaur wrote:2. What were some of the staffing changes?

macbone wrote:We've had three different heads in the 4 years of teacher training, first Bruceswar, then ptlowe, then BW again briefly, and finally Commander9. Pt didn't have enough time to continue, and Bruce transitioned to lead the Clan Directors team, although he still participates in team teaching. We still use pt's training regimin with the three-student teams and the movement through the three different settings.

Dukasaur wrote:3. What were some of the challenges setting this up and have the goals/methods changed? (and similar question) 4. Will future groups be handled differently that the first group? Have any lessons been learned?

Commander9 wrote:3. Communication has always been the main emphasis and it was always going to be challenging to handle and work with so many people while organizing everything. Fortunately, we've had such studs like Macbone or Dhallmeyer, who have spent countless amount of hours organizing and putting everything together. Through out the time, we have changed some of the procedures, such as allowing the communication to be a bit more lax (that as long as teacher and student are communicating, they don't have to follow a very specific pattern of communication). Through out all this time there's been countless of changes, but again, if there's going to be need, I'd rather let two people who were mostly responsible for them to stand up and take the credit.

4. Yes, things do change over-time. We have a much stricter teacher policy these days and we are now quite selective on who we take - there's still room for improvement, but getting the very best player interested in training low end people is not as easy as it may sound Still, we have changed a lot of administrative procedures and we've formed a fairly reliable system on how to determine when to move a person to the next level and as of now, we are quite satisfied with the current system. Still, there's plenty of work to be done and we'll continue on looking how to improve the system for the better.

macbone wrote:4. As far as lessons learned goes, I think I took my first group through too slowly. Most students seem to pick up the basics fairly easily, but I still think that doubles play is very important in teaching the essentials. Similarly, trips is very useful in that students learn to work with each other, and aren't as dependent on the teacher. Quads is where teams really come into their own, and students have a greater chance to take on leadership roles and develop their own strategy apart from their teachers.

And finally

Dukasaur wrote:5. How many people in total are in/have been in the program?

Commander9 wrote:5. To give an exact number is pretty much impossible to due a fairly high amount of drop-outs, but I'd estimate that at least 400 people have passed through some stage of SoC team training (quite possibly more).

Outstanding work. A big thank-you to all the SoC staff for all the work they do!

NO. cairns is not on vacation if you care to drop into the Foundry....i am very active at present which is far from what the Mods in the foundry are.If you also examine the forum front page, you'll find the questions for the dispatch interview are still active and i have been given no deadline despite a PM to safariguy5 (which has been read) asking when the deadline is.

NO. cairns is not on vacation if you care to drop into the Foundry....i am very active at present which is far from what the Mods in the foundry are.If you also examine the forum front page, you'll find the questions for the dispatch interview are still active and i have been given no deadline despite a PM to safariguy5 (which has been read) asking when the deadline is.

sorry cairns, i didn't mean that as any offense towards you. I was just making a joke on hippo's intro about everything being on vacation... not trying to direct blame at anyone.

lol, for the most part that was in jest (as illustrated in my small text disclaimer ) just to see if anyone even read my column, specially since it not being cc-related doesn't fall in our purview.However, if there is interest, It's certainly something to look into, just have to find a way to relate it more closely with things within the realm of clans a bit more. (Any volunteers?)

With regards to the cairns interview confusion, I'm sure it partly stems from the mix-up in Dispatch titles. In the homepage it's "Q's for Cairns" while here in the thread it's "Lucky for some"Unfortunately, safari has been somewhat indisposed over the holidays so he wasn't able to close up and send the interview to cairns in time!

Thankfully, there's a nice feature from Squishy that should be continuing regularly so I look forward to hearing more from the hearts and minds of our readers!

lol, for the most part that was in jest (as illustrated in my small text disclaimer ) just to see if anyone even read my column, specially since it not being cc-related doesn't fall in our purview.However, if there is interest, It's certainly something to look into, just have to find a way to relate it more closely with things within the realm of clans a bit more. (Any volunteers?)

Lol, wow, talk about small print! Is that what those dots were? Even when I magnify them, they're still just dots. However, if I quote the newsletter, I can see that you (clearly?) state that you're just kidding. Funny.